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My Giant Tech comparison thread

The point of this post is my own personal observations, thoughts, and feelings regarding the various Gillette Tech razors. Mainly done in a fairly straightforward and easy to understand post that isn’t presented in a long “shave of the day” fashion or with a lot of excess information to dig through. I’ll also address some lore (Canadian prewars are different and amazing for instance).
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I’ll that I tried to keep as many variables as similar as possible. Same blade type (Polsilver Iridium Super with 7 O’clock Yellows but that became redundant) same general batch, same soap (Mikes Natural Soaps Barbershop), and same razor handle (UFO Colibri). The brush changes but generally used the same during weekdays. I also shave everyday.
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I generally do one pass against the grain. I make observations about how it feels doing a two pass starting with the grain first depending on how it feels. For me a two pass shave really just makes the second pass smoother.

Prewar USA
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This worked better with a sharper blade. The yellows delivered an ok experience but nothing to write home about. Could deliver a great shape with no nicks or irritation. Single pass was all that was needed. No nicks or irritation but the razor is smoother with a shallower angle versus a steeper angle. This can be remedied to a much more intuitive angle if you do multiple passes but this is single pass ATG. It’s a good shave but a bit of attention is needed to maintain the angle. Not extremely unforgiving, can bite but takes some negligence.
 
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Prewar Canada
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This is going to attack the myth and the statements some are making about it being an amazing razor.
I attached pictures and did a personal side be side. I couldn’t see a difference.
I gave it a good few shaves. I couldn’t feel a difference.
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It’s the same. That isn’t a bad thing though. We can call it a YMMV thing, but it’s something where I can’t notice any difference and the unique peculiarities of the prewar make this more obvious to me. I could go into more detail but there isn’t much more to say.

Gillette Postwar USA etched cap
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Buy one.
It’s not the most aggressive, or the smoothest, or most efficient.

It’s still very smooth though, obscenely forgiving, not BBS but a quality damn fine shave with little irritation or need for touch up.

They’re cheap. Also easy to find New Old stock for cheap, especially as travel techs. I’m surprised when I don’t hear more praise about these. They are mild razors but still efficient. If you like a razor that isn’t too aggressive this is near perfection.
 
Second style USA post war (embossed or correctly said debossed logo, potmetal cap)
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This is one of the latest designs. It’s given up a lot of refinement for ease of use it seems. It has a large and semi forgiving intuitive angle, doesn’t require much touch up, not the smoothest but just works without much thought to angle. It’s a good shave but there is better. There’s also worse too.

It is nice to have for the experience and isn’t too expensive. Is it worth investing money into to have? Not particularly. It may fit certain people with a less attentive style but this really seemed to take away a quality shave for easy of use. This one had big shoes to fill and took a step back to try to do it.

English Post War Etched Cap (Brass)
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This is very similar to its USA counterpart. Switching the blade between this and the USA is what showed the little differences.

This is just a smudge less efficient, thus more forgiving, a little smoother but only when the hair isn’t too wirey.

Once I hit the chin in single pass ATG this starts becoming far less smooth. A dual pass shave does fix that though.

Great if you want milder than a USA variant.
 
English Post War Etched Cap (Aluminum)
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It’s very similar, feels like it shaves a feels little closer than the brass version.

I initially wrote in another post that this razor sucked. I got back on and got into it and it’s really not that bad. It has a learning curve but I think that’s due to the weight. I’ve never used an aluminum razor so this was new for me and it needed a bit of pressure to be efficient. With that it tends to be less forgiving and a weeper or two tends to occur.

Could be right for someone with tougher skin? It seems to also loose some smoothness compared to its other etched cap brothers. Attached a side by side showing how there is some difference between them.
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English Flat Bottom
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This is like a refined Prewar USA tech. A little more intuitive on the angle but not perfectly natural to find, slightly smoother, assertive but not as aggressive as a USA prewar. Feels like an in between for when they were working on a better razor but not in a bad way. Not as mild as etched caps but not as easy to use. Still a nice an unique experience. Would recommend if an etched cap is a bit too mild and a step up was desired.

English Hybrid
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The mythical hybrid. A happy accident I stumbled upon as a buy it now.

The first is the comparison to the Flat Bottom. The blade gap appears smaller and the plateau the blade rests on in the baseplate is different. The cap appears the same though. Notable increase in weight.
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The first thing is how intuitive the angle is, then how smooth it glides. It’s mild, but not too mild. Forgiving and inviting the use of just the slightest bit of pressure. The end result is BBS and no irritation. The difference is fairly dramatic in regards to what is expected from doing a visual side by side.

This is something easily accomplished though with some modern higher end razors. I’d imagine a less blade forward small gap Wolfman WR2 would perform in a similar fashion.
 
I agree that even though the amazing post-war American Tech has been largely sacrificed on the altar of 'too mild' and that praises are heaped upon the pre-war version in much greater numbers, for me the post-war version is superior. Just a great shaving razor. No nonsense. Smooth and comfortable. Efficient enough if you can maintain the proper angle.
 
I agree that even though the amazing post-war American Tech has been largely sacrificed on the altar of 'too mild' and that praises are heaped upon the pre-war version in much greater numbers, for me the post-war version is superior. Just a great shaving razor. No nonsense. Smooth and comfortable. Efficient enough if you can maintain the proper angle.

+1. Actually shaved with mine the last few mornings. Postwar is perfect :thumbup:
 
The point of this post is my own personal observations, thoughts, and feelings regarding the various Gillette Tech razors. Mainly done in a fairly straightforward and easy to understand post that isn’t presented in a long “shave of the day” fashion or with a lot of excess information to dig through. I’ll also address some lore (Canadian prewars are different and amazing for instance).
View attachment 1623766
I’ll that I tried to keep as many variables as similar as possible. Same blade type (Polsilver Iridium Super with 7 O’clock Yellows but that became redundant) same general batch, same soap (Mikes Natural Soaps Barbershop), and same razor handle (UFO Colibri). The brush changes but generally used the same during weekdays. I also shave everyday.
View attachment 1623767
I generally do one pass against the grain. I make observations about how it feels doing a two pass starting with the grain first depending on how it feels. For me a two pass shave really just makes the second pass smoother.

Prewar USA
View attachment 1623769
This worked better with a sharper blade. The yellows delivered an ok experience but nothing to write home about. Could deliver a great shape with no nicks or irritation. Single pass was all that was needed. No nicks or irritation but the razor is smoother with a shallower angle versus a steeper angle. This can be remedied to a much more intuitive angle if you do multiple passes but this is single pass ATG. It’s a good shave but a bit of attention is needed to maintain the angle. Not extremely unforgiving, can bite but takes some negligence.


Thanks so much for this great elaborate post. Techs are the finest shavers, make all others superfluous, really.

Your observations match mine to a T(ech) for all models!
 
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never-stop-learning

Demoted To Moderator
Staff member
Prewar Canada
CCDF6FE6-CDCA-4068-84B4-615D64F709C0.jpeg

This is going to attack the myth and the statements some are making about it being an amazing razor.
I attached pictures and did a personal side be side. I couldn’t see a difference.
I gave it a good few shaves. I couldn’t feel a difference.
22E3CC23-97E4-45CD-B5C8-EB2664B2C20B.jpeg

It’s the same. That isn’t a bad thing though. We can call it a YMMV thing, but it’s something where I can’t notice any difference and the unique peculiarities of the prewar make this more obvious to me. I could go into more detail but there isn’t much more to say.

Wonderful post @Joezamboni. The Tech is a wonderful shaving tool! Please join us for Vintage April, 2023:

Thread 'Vintage April, 2023' Vintage April, 2023 - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/vintage-april-2023.637741/

I agree that the differences between the Canadian Pre-War Tech and the USA Pre-War Tech are a YMMV issue.

Personally, I favor the Canadian Pre-War and Post-War Techs, but respect the opinion of anyone who believes them to be the same.

This thread may further illustrate my views regarding the Canadian vs USA Pre-War and Post-War Techs:

Thread 'To Tech, Or Not To Tech.....How Do The Best Techs Stack Up?' To Tech, Or Not To Tech.....How Do The Best Techs Stack Up? - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/to-tech-or-not-to-tech-how-do-the-best-techs-stack-up.621829/
 
Techs are the finest shavers, make all others superfluous, really.
If I had discovered this earlier in my wet shaving quest, I would have saved hundreds of dollars. Live and learn.

I now have a gold pre-war, nickel post-war, and an S-stamped one which is somewhere in between I am guessing. I no longer have any stainless steel razors and no desire to ever get another. I did keep a brass Karve B-plate and cap because it shaves like a Tech IMO.

You sir, @Joezamboni have a very nice and comprehensive collection. Thanks for the insights and lore thoughts.
 
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Is there much difference between the post war with a plain cap and the etched cap? If I understand (doubtful) the no etched post war would be 1945-1950ish? And then the etched logo started around 1950? Also I've seen some Techs where the cap is copper instead of brass. Just curious if those slight variations shave differently or any post-war tech about the same up to the debossed logo zamack cap?
 
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+1 for the post war etched cap as a travel razor. It’s a great shave. And, I’m out like $12 if a TSA agent decides to take it.
 
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I've seen some Techs where the cap is copper instead of brass.
Brass is a copper-zinc/nickel alloy so my understanding is that the brass at the various manufacturing plants may have had different copper contents whereby some had a more copper color than brass.

With some Gillette gold plated razors, If you see a copper cap, it could be the gold plating has worn or been polished off. I am no expert but have been researching vintage Gillettes some so please anyone, correct me if I am wrong.
 
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I've read somewhere that the gold plated etched logo caps were Zamack -- is that a myth/misinformation? The seller told me this would be a Zamack cap but I thought zamack wasn't until the '64 and later carved logo caps?
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